Kacey Musgraves Sets the Record Straight After Viral Video Sparks Beyoncé Shade Rumors

There is no feud between Beyoncé and Kacey Musgraves.

A representative for Musgraves released a statement to E! News, where they denied that Musgraves shaded Queen Bey at the Grammys after cameras cut to her looking less than enthusiastic when she lost the Best Country Album category.

"It's a sensationalistic false narrative meant to pit two talented female artists against each other. There was simply no scowl or expression made," the statement read.

At the 2025 Grammy Awards ceremony on Feb. 2, Beyoncé won the award for Best Country Album for her acclaimed Cowboy Carter project. She beat out Musgraves, who was nominated for her acclaimed Deeper Well album in the category alongside other nominees Chris Stapleton, Lainey Wilson and Post Malone.

When Taylor Swift, who was presenting the award during the ceremony, announced Beyoncé's name, the camera cut to both Wilson and Musgraves. Musgraves appeared to have a scowl on her face, according to the interpretation of some on the internet.

"Kacey Musgraves is pi--ed that Beyonce beat her for best country album, look at her face expression," once comment reads alongside video of the moment.

However, there were others that came to the defense of Musgraves.

"it's literally a neutral expression, it's barely showing any emotion" shared one commenter.

"She's literally one of the biggest Beyonce fans 😂 they also worked on songs together," added another.

"She's not 'p--sed' she's just disappointed like anyone would be, doesn't mean she isn't also happy for Beyoncé too like stop trying to pit two women against each other it's crazy," another chimed in.

Cowboy Carter would go on to win the biggest award of the night, Album of the Year, as well. Beyoncé bested the likes of Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan for the top prize.

Musgraves had previously shared that she was happy that Beyoncé was going to be joining the country genre.

"The more the f--king merrier. I don't really care. It doesn't affect what I'm doing. It doesn't affect me. I've always been just doing my own thing," she told The Cut.

While Musgraves may not be mad that Beyoncé won, others in the country community were. Singer John Rich of Big and Rich posted a series of tweets to his X account where he called out Beyoncé and her win.

"Folks are asking me 'how do music award shows work?' Labels/publishers all have blocks of votes. They make deals with each other 'you vote for mine, we'll vote for yours' type thing. It has ZERO to do with who made the best music, thus, Beyonce with 'Country album of the year.' Nice, right? The same thing is true with the CMA's, ACM's, Billboard, etc...all work exactly the same. Last night, the Grammy's outed themselves in a big way," he wrote in one tweet.

Dylan Scott shared that he thought that fans should be the ones to decide who wins at these award shows.

"Time to let the fans vote! Award shows have become fake and what the narrative is. The fans are the ONLY thing that's real. So instead of a 'board' of industry people voting and manipulating the system, leave it to the fans," he said per Holler.

Their words came after Luke Bryan had also shared his take on Cowboy Carter being left out of the CMA Award nominations in 2024.

"But where things get a little tricky — if you're gonna make country albums, come into our world and be country with us a little bit. Like, Beyoncé can do exactly what she wants to. She's probably the biggest star in music. But come to an award show and high-five us and have fun and get in the family, too. And I'm not saying she didn't do that ... but country music is a lot about family," he said.

He has since clarified his statement, sharing that he respects Beyoncé and that he wants everyone to win.

"You will hear my tone and intentions which were not negative. I respect Beyoncé and I love how loyal her fans are. I spend a lot of time supporting other artists. I want everyone to win. Love yall," Bryan clarified.

Tags

Beyonce, Beyonce Knowles, Kacey Musgraves